Computer networks are increasingly becoming more intelligent, such as data center networks, enterprise networks, service provider networks, and the like. Network services such as intrusion detection systems/intrusion prevention systems (IDS/IPS), web proxies, application firewalls, wide area network (WAN) optimization, application delivery control systems (ADC), and server load balancing system (SLB) are added to computer networks to add protection, adaptability, and performance to the computer networks.
These network services may be implemented in a computer network as a virtual appliance or physical appliance. When a network service appliance is added to or removed from a computer network, the computer network topology changes and administrators are required to re-configure the network infrastructure to ensure a complete traffic flow connection exists between clients and servers.
In some instances, data traffic passes through each network service appliance, regardless of the traffic type and/or the network service appliance type (e.g., in a serial manner), thus consuming unnecessary processing cycles. For example, a compression network service appliance may still receive and forward data packets that do not require compression.